Jets Announce Ticket Price Changes

The Jets have announced changes to their ticket prices for the 2016 season.

The New York Jets will increase season ticket prices for the 2016 NFL season at MetLife Stadium by an average of about 4 percent.  The price increase translates to less than $5 per ticket on average for non-premium seats. This is the first increase for most sections since 2011.

"We very much appreciate the commitment to the team and understand the investment that our fans make to attend our games," Jets President Neil Glat said.  "We're looking forward to the 2016 season and building on the exciting gameday experience and home field advantage that our fans created last year."

The good news is the Jets are bringing back the Jets Rewards program, which allow season ticket holders to accumulate points and use them on cool prizes.

I don't want you to come away from reading my conclusion and thinking the Jets are awful and out to rip off the fans. I fully acknowledge the following things.

• The Jets are running a business. If somebody wants to buy a ticket at the prices they sell, they are firmly within their rights to do so. The surge in pricing that is making ticket prices unaffordable for regular people is one across professional sports. The Jets are not leading this trend.
• The Jets have created a number of free events to give fans who might not be able to afford tickets access to the team with free events such as moving training camp to Florham Park, a movie night, and a Draft party to name other things. That's commendable.
• This also is their first ticket price increase in years. The average price has gone down in recent years. The Giants play in the same stadium and had a higher ticket price last season. The cheapest Jets ticket was also lower than the league average of the cheapest ticket across the NFL.

Again, I'm not here to tell you the Jets are rotten for doing this. At the same time, they did have the sixth highest ticket price in the league last year and are raising it. I understand the reasoning for doing it. I appreciate that they have to run a business. I think they've taken a lot of great steps to give alternatives to fans who can't afford tickets. It still bothers me how tickets to these games are becoming less and less affordable to families.